ROBERTA G. VELOZ CARDIOVASCULAR SERVICES STROKE AND DIABETES PROGRAM

Henry Mayo’s cardiovascular services continue to grow. In 2022, the team hit 50 transaortic valve replacement patients (TAVR), 500 open heart surgeries and over 10,000 total procedures.

In a joint venture with Special Procedures, the team successfully developed a pulmonary embolism (PE)/ deep vein thrombosis (DVT) program to service this critical population of mostly young patients. The unit is working on its next program – Watchman, which is the left atrial appendage device for atrial fibrillation. This will eliminate the need for anticoagulation in the setting of atrial fibrillation, for which many patients are contraindicated.

The group is also working on funding for a second cath lab and interventional radiology suite to keep up with patient demand.

Throughout the pandemic, frontline nurses continued to provide quality care to all stroke and diabetes patients with compassion. Their hard work gave these programs and the hospital the recognition and respect of many medical professionals, healthcare facilities and a national association.

Diabetes

Henry Mayo’s diabetes program was recognized by the American Heart Association (AHA) for its best practices in caring for hospitalized patients with diabetes. In 2022, Stroke and Diabetes Navigator Melody Halio, RN, was invited to present the hospital’s best practices at an international AHA conference.

The hospital was also awarded the Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll by the AHA for the third year in a row. The program relies heavily on the outstanding work done by bedside nurses, who continued to provide excellent care to patients with diabetes, which is around one-third of the hospital’s patient population at any given time.

Stroke

Henry Mayo provides the highest level of evidence-based care to its stroke patients. The stroke program was redesignated as an Advanced Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission at the end of 2022, and has received awards, including the Stroke Gold Plus Award, for 10 consecutive years. ED nurses responded to approximately 550 code neuros in the last year and the inpatient units cared for over 400 stroke patients and many more patients who were being ruled out for stroke. Henry Mayo’s code neuro nurses are highly trained to treat stroke patients when time is of the essence.